Blackstone Foundry and Forge; Monday (Daytime) [07/08].

[special_rabbit]

Amaya had woken up on a floor again, depsite having gone to sleep in her own bed, only, this time, instead of it just being her own bedroom, it was down in the sewers. The normal sewers, not some convoluted maze version where she was stuck in a cage, surrounded by increasingly bizarre favors and gifts from the goblins who, big surprise, were learning that it was sort of hard to really woo a person that 1) had no interest in being wooed and 2) you sort of kidnapped in the first place. Talk about starting off on the wrong foot! And though she was mostly glad that everything was back to normal and that she didn't have to deal with any of the embarrassment of someone actually saving her, she was pretty sure a sewer wasn't going to be making the list of 'Favorite Places to Wake Up' any time soon, and she was a little irked that she hadn't managed to just go and save herself with that one.

Pity she couldn't figure out exactly how they made that cage so impenitrable, because that would be a pretty useful thing to know!

Either way, she was a bit late getting the shop up and going that morning, having to get there from the sewers (but at least she didn't get lost!), taking the longest shower she probably ever had in her life, and making the biggest pot of coffee she could. She didn't even want to start registering what was going to be the thing that was going on this week. Not yet, anyway. Right now, she just wanted to be glad that she was not in a cage, that she was not being romanced by goblins, and that she was back in her shop, getting the forge going and picking out some steel to quickly hammer out something to get back into the swing of things (get it??), and maybe work out some of these knots in her back.

it did seem a little weird, though, didn't it? That her bed had managed to make it back like normal, but she hadn't. You'd think, since she was already in it, whatever rearranged the island after these weeks would have just sort of done them both in one fell swoop, but apparently, that was far too much logic for this place. Made a bit too much sense to have anything like that happen, now didn't it?

The Forge is open!

Comments

[built_fjord_tough]

"I think," Fjord drawled as he leaned into the doorway of Amaya's shop, "I owe you a drink and a day's hard work or ten, by this point."

Hello, Amaya. Fjord had never managed to find his way through the maze, but he was reasonably certain he had you to thank for how he'd wound up there rather than re-living one of the worst moments of his life on repeat forever.

[special_rabbit]

In a way, Amaya had almost been a little bit grateful for the whole 'kidnapped by goblins with very unwelcome intentions' thing, because it gave her plenty to focus on (figuring out how to bust those bars, imagining various ways to cause them incredible physical harm should they happen to even get within an inch of the cage, etc, etc, etc) that wasn't the implications of having found a floating crystal sort of ball that contained some disturbing little mini-movie where Fjord and stabbing and drowning were the main stars and then accidentally smashing it.

It was a bit harder to not think about it now that the goblins and the cage were all gone and the subject of the sphere was standing in your doorway. Amaya looked up from the piece she was working on at the sound of his voice, blinked a few times, then maybe once more for good measure, and set down her hammer.

"....just about three or four by my count, actually," she offered, her head tilting a little. He looked...okay. Normal sized and not in a sphere, at least, though she wasn't even sure how that strange little bauble would have even related to him yet. "Days, that is, not drinks, though I don't think I'll be too keen on refusing a few of those, either. Nothing to worry about, though, Fjord. We both know it's been a crazy few months, but if you're looking for something to do, you know I can always find something for you."

She just might...need a second. She didn't even know what she was going to do, for the most part, whic was why she was just making some random sword to try to just adjusted. That oubliette really threw her off her sense of timing and herself, more than she'd like to really admit.

[built_fjord_tough]

"Wouldn't object to a little extra work today," Fjord admitted. And paused, tilting his head a bit as he regarded her. She looked at least half as lost as he still felt. He could still practically feel the dagger burying itself in his chest when he closed his eyes. Could still feel the shrapnel shredding his back, the water in his lungs... He cleared his throat, squared his shoulders, and said, "How's that greenhouse of yours comin' along?"

Distractions. Clearly what was called for here? Distractions.

[special_rabbit]

Amaya was already starting to think of things she might be able to put Fjord to work on, though she couldn't even think of anything for herself that wasn't busy work, but she didn't suppose he'd mind that very much, anyway. They were pretty overdue for a good lesson, too, weren't they? They'd barely even gotten much use out of that second anvil since it arrive, not even for her class! But then his question cut through and she snorted a laugh.

"Mostly in one piece," she said. "It's the strangest thing, what this place decides to change right back to where it was at the beginning of the week, and what it doesn't. I'm glad for it, because that would make it pretty much impossible to make any progress on the thing, but I guess it got confused between what I'd managed to built up earlier in the week and what I managed to break back down by throwin' goblins into it later on that it just left it as it was, which means I'm waiting on some new glass to come in. Haven't bothered touching it since I got back this morning yet, though, so there's a good deal of broken glass and wood and plaster up there if you're in a cleaning mood."

Seemed a little futile, though, wiht all that ash and smoke going on outside.

"And if not?" She shrugged a little, quirked her head toward the other anvil with a faint smirk. "We could maybe make sure that technique of yours isn't getting too rusty from all that missed work, and, if it isn't, maybe at a little something new to it. All I know right now is that new anvil's still looking way too much like a new anvil."

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord considered that for a few moments, and then nodded, dusting some ash from his shoulder before making his way properly inside.

"Let's change that, then, shall we? It's a damn sin that thing ain't seen much use yet, you know. Go out of your way to get a new anvil in, and then the island has to go and ruin all those plans..." He hummed a moment, and then suggested, "Think I'm ready to learn a little bit about puttin' spikes on things?"

He was pandering, clearly, but figured there were worse times for it.

[special_rabbit]

Well, Amaya had had plenty of failed attempts at pandering over the last few days, but, really, this one she didn't mind.

Because spikes.

Obviously.

"Well, if it's spikes you want," said Amaya, her grin gaining full speed and she pumped a fist, "it's spikes you'll get. What're your feelings about flails, Fjord?"

Good shaping technique to be had with flails, really, practical practice with chainmaking, too, that was something any good blacksmith should be able to do in their sleep, and who didn't love a good heavy metal ball covered in spikes to fling around at things? No one Amaya'd care to know, probably!

...zards, a flail would have been handy to help with those goblins, too, she realized, in retrospect, attention shifting maybe just slightly as she tried to think of how to add some sort of weapons cache to the roof for other future unexpected rooftop attacks...

[built_fjord_tough]

"You know, can't say I've got much experience with flails? But then, I didn't have a hell of a lot of experience with throwing stars, either..."

That tree would forever stand as testimony to that one beautiful natural 20.

"Hell, let's give it a go. Somethin' new and different sounds like exactly the sort of challenge that'd suit a day like today."

[special_rabbit]

Well, it sure suited Amaya just fine on a day like today, too. Much better than some of the alternatives, which would have likely involved things like...talking. About strange little spheres and kidnapping goblins and other such things...

She did, however, for a brief moment, frowning a little as she inspected the work on the blade she'd been hammering at for most of the morning, wonder if they should talk about it. It felt like the sort of thing that maybe she shouldn't even really know about, especially without Fjord knowing about her knowing about it, but those were the sorts of things you had to talk about, once they were out there, really...

But it could have just been one of those weird things for the week, so it didn't really matter, and, like the rest of it, would eventually just fade away into the background like the rest it.

She'd see how she felt on Friday, she decided, as she also set the sword aside and turned her attention to some more flail-appropriate steels. Seemed a conversation better over ales, anyway, especially considering conversations while blacksmithing properly were a little more difficult, anyway.

"Head's up," she said, since you should sort of warn a person before you tossed a steel ingot their way. "Funny thing about going for a flail because of the spikes is that you've got to sort of start with the opposite and get a long metal bar into a nice hefty metal ball. I trust you remember a good deal about upsetting? Because that's basically all this first step really is, a lot of upsetting and then beating out the edges until it's good and smooth."

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord caught that ingot and considered it, listening to Amaya speak and nodding as she did so. He really didn't know what had happened last week, not entirely. He remembered the dance, remembered the ship and the sabotage, remembered...

He'd woken up half-swallowed by a hedge?

And had, for some reason, immediately thought of Amaya. And so it was good to be here now, to see she was in one piece for himself, even if he hadn't been able to find his way sooner.

"So, take this an' upset it," he repeated, throwing his focus hard into the distraction that they both seemed to have leaned hard into. "Good. It's been too long since I've been able to really work on that, anyway. Or, hell, swing a hammer in the first place."

This. Damn. Island.

[special_rabbit]

Amaya gave a wry sort of smile at that, as she set her own ingot on the forge and nudges it into the coals with her tongs, before moving over to give the bellows a good few pulls to accommodate for heating two ingots at once. "If," she said, with a faint grunt, because she'd said it between pulls, "between today and Thursday," hopefully, "you're not complaining when you're pouring beers on Friday, I am going to be....very disappointed."

[built_fjord_tough]

"And what if I'm hurtin' but not complaining?" Fjord grinned a little as his own ingot joined hers in the coals. "I'd like to think I've felt a hell of a lot worse than a few sore muscles, you know."

Can't imagine what, right?